Nicholas’s POV

I stared blankly at Roman.

The heavy, suffocating silence in my dark office was completely deafening. The lingering scent of Andrei’s expensive whiskey instantly mixed with the bitter, sharp tang of Roman’s pure panic. My inner wolf violently snapped to attention. It clawed viciously at my chest.

My Royal Beta never panicked. Never.

Roman was the calmest, most calculated man in my entire pack. He was a stone wall. Seeing him physically trembling in my doorway sent a massive, icy shockwave straight down my spine.

"What?" I barked. My voice was a harsh, gravelly demand that physically shook the room. "What happened, Roman? Spit it out."

Roman swallowed incredibly hard. He pushed himself weakly off the heavy oak doorframe. He took a staggering step into the office. "Riots, Alpha. We have major uprisings at the western border."

I stared at him for three long seconds. Then, I actually rolled my golden eyes.

A heavy, suffocating wave of sheer annoyance violently crashed over me. I pinched the bridge of my nose. I let out a harsh, bitter breath. "Are you fucking kidding me?" I growled darkly.

I was furious. I just had a massive emotional breakthrough. I was finally ready to let Irina breathe. I was ready to compromise. I was ready to fiercely protect my fragile, pregnant mate and give her a tiny piece of the real world. I was ready to fix my incredibly broken family.

And Roman was interrupting me for a damn border scuffle?

"Send the patrol units," I ordered coldly.

I turned my back to him completely. I aggressively walked back behind my massive mahogany desk. My heavy combat boots slammed against the hardwood floor. "Crush them. Snap their worthless necks. Hang their bloody bodies from the trees as a permanent warning to the rest of the garbage out there. Why the hell are you busting down my door for a few stray, starving rogues? Handle it, Beta. Don’t ever bring this petty trash to me again."

"It’s not just a few rogues, Nicholas," Roman said.

His voice was entirely breathless. It was tight with real, absolute fear.

He didn’t use my formal title. He actually called me by my first name.

I stopped dead in my tracks. My massive shoulders violently tensed. I slowly turned back around. The deadly, lethal fire slowly reignited in my glowing golden eyes.

Roman didn’t back down. He walked aggressively toward my desk. He didn’t ask for permission. He violently shoved my crystal ashtray and my stacked paperwork right off the edge. Everything crashed loudly onto the floor. He slammed a large, thick parchment map directly onto the polished wood.

"Look at this," Roman demanded loudly. His hands were actually shaking. "Just look at it, Alpha! Please!"

Andrei instantly dropped his casual, joking smirk. The Royal Gamma quickly set down his whiskey glass. He stepped up right beside me. We both looked down at the sprawling map of our massive territory.

Red ink.

There were bold red markers absolutely everywhere. Dozens of them. They formed a violent, jagged line entirely across the western edge of our lands.

"This isn’t a random riot," Roman said heavily. He pointed a trembling finger at the thick cluster of red marks. "This is a highly coordinated attack. It’s massive. They are incredibly organized."

My jaw clenched so tight my teeth physically ached. The annoyance completely vanished from my brain. Pure, lethal Alpha instinct aggressively took over.

"Explain," I commanded softly. The absolute, deadly danger in my low tone made Andrei physically step back.

Roman traced the red line with his shaking hand. "They hit three different major outposts at the exact same time. Down to the absolute second. They aren’t just mindless, hungry rogues blindly rushing our heavy defenses. They aren’t fighting like wild animals. They are using advanced military tactics."

Roman took a ragged breath. "They cut off our communication lines first. Then they perfectly flanked our strongest guards. They trapped our men."

Roman looked up at me. His dark eyes were completely haunted. "They are systematically eating away at our border line. Slowly. Brutally. Piece by bloody piece. They are actively testing our weaknesses."

My inner wolf snarled violently. A deafening, ferocious roar echoed loudly in my skull.

Who the fuck would dare?

Who would be stupid enough to attack my absolute empire? I was the Alpha King. I commanded the largest, most lethal army on the entire continent. Everyone feared my name. Everyone knew I would slaughter their entire bloodline if they even looked at my borders.

"How many?" I asked darkly. My voice was pure, frozen ice.

"Hundreds," Roman whispered. "Maybe more. We honestly don’t know yet. They strike incredibly hard, they shed our blood, and then they completely vanish back into the shadows like ghosts. It’s impossible to track their scent. They are entirely masking it."

Roman reached into the inner pocket of his ruined suit jacket. His hand was shaking so badly he struggled to pull the object out.

"Our scouts found something," Roman said. His voice dropped to a terrified, breathless whisper. "They found this carved into the trees near the bloodiest, most destroyed outpost."

He pulled out a crumpled, blurry photograph. He slammed it down directly on top of the red markers.

I leaned heavily forward. I placed both of my massive hands flat on the mahogany desk. I stared completely down at the blurry image.

It was a symbol.

Someone had violently carved a massive crest deep into the heavy, thick bark of an ancient pine tree. The edges of the carving were jagged and rough. The photo was terrible quality. It was obviously taken in a complete rush in the dark woods. But the distinct shape was entirely clear.

Instantly, every single alarm bell in my head started screaming violently.

My heart slammed brutally against my ribs. A cold, absolute dread washed completely over my massive body. It felt like freezing ice water flooding my hot veins.

My inner wolf didn’t howl in anger. He didn’t snarl aggressively at the challenge.

He froze.

The violent beast inside me went completely, terrifyingly still. The sheer, primal panic was undeniable.

I absolutely knew this symbol.

I hadn’t seen this crest in years. I truly thought it was completely dead and buried in the ashes of the past. I thought I had violently wiped it off the face of the earth with my own two bloody hands.

I stared intensely at the blurry photo. The dark, jagged lines seemed to physically burn straight into my retinas.

Suddenly, Irina’s terrified, beautiful face flashed perfectly in my mind.

She was incredibly fragile. She had no wolf. She was pregnant. She was carrying my entirely vulnerable heir in her small belly. She was completely helpless against a threat like this.

They didn’t just want my territory.

They didn’t just want a piece of my land. They wanted absolute revenge. They wanted my entire fucking world to burn to the ground. And Irina was the absolute center of my world. If they touched her... if they even breathed near her...

The massive room went completely, suffocatingly silent.

Andrei and Roman were staring intently at me. They were barely breathing. They were waiting for a command. They were waiting for their Alpha King to violently rage and flip the heavy desk.

I didn’t yell. I didn’t break a single thing.

I slowly stood up straight. My massive chest rose and fell with slow, incredibly heavy breaths. The absolute, heavy silence stretched on for several terrifying seconds. I kept my glowing golden eyes locked completely on the blurry crest.

I think I know who it is.